Inside The Caps Opponent : Clayton Keller

If you didn’t know who Clayton Keller was before the Capitals played the Coyotes at the Capitals One Arena back on November 6th, you should now. Scoring his 11th goal beating Holtby low stick side, he out waited the Vezina trophy winning goalie after freezing him with a nice no look shot on a 2 on 1. One minute into the game and he looked quite comfortable in shooting the puck. The 7th overall pick in 2016 could be a outside contender for rookie of the year as he’s been a sign of positivity for the desert dogs through an otherwise disastrous season thus far. The Coyotes sit dead last in the NHL standings with only 19 pts and 7 regulation wins so far. And it’s only Christmas break .. wow.

Keller, who stands 5’10’ and weighs in at 168 lbs, is a speedy player who thinks quick and can score highlight reel goals. First garnering some national attention at the 2017 World Championships as an 18 year old, the shifty center registered 5 G’s and 7 pts in eight games to help Team USA to a Gold medal. The NHL rookie of the month for October has levelled off since his torrid start where he had 11 G’s and 17 pts in the teams first 17 games. Since then he’s scored 1 goal and 9 assists in the last 19 games.

The Caps have shown great team defence in neutralizing the oppositions speed as we’ve seen vs Edmonton and Toronto in the past and will look to contain Keller and the other dynamic forwards like Max Domi to prevent high opportunity scoring chances by forcing them outside and collapsing in front of the Caps net. I feel Keller will have a couple scoring chances where Grubauer (I assume he’s playing) will be called on.